MATT BARLOW: Virgil van Dijk has been one of the greats of his era and can be for many more years

Virgil van Dijk will forever be one of the great Liverpool signings. True, he cost a fortune but he was simply a perfect fit for the team Jurgen Klopp was creating. Without him, the most glorious heights of the last five years would have remained unscaled.

Calm and composed, with fine distribution and a combination of pace and anticipation to patrol the large areas behind Klopp’s high defensive line as though never quite in top gear, Van Dijk was also an attacking threat at set-plays.

It all served to justify the outlay of £80million but his form is under scrutiny, amid the perception that he is not the same since the serious knee injury. Maybe he has lost a fraction of pace. Maybe his powers could be fading as he ticks into his 30s.

It is interesting because it does not come through in the performance data so central to the modern game.

According to the Premier League rankings compiled by Delphlyx, data experts employed by several professional clubs, Van Dijk is the top centre back in the country. Ruben Dias is second. Thiago Silva third, and how Chelsea are missing him.

Virgil van Dijk’s (left) form for Liverpool has come under heavy scrutiny so far this season

Van Dijk and Liverpool have been weaker defensively and sit eighth in the standings

The Dutchman is one of the the greats of his era and one of Jurgen Klopp’s best signings

Van Dijk’s defensive numbers are not radically different to 2019/20 when Liverpool won the title or the season before when he was PFA Player of the Year. Down fractionally in some areas and slightly up in others.

There is an increase in defensive activity. He is making and winning more tackles, which indicates the workload is greater. He is winning duels with much the same frequency as he was four years ago, making the same number of interceptions.

His ball recoveries are down, and a clear dip this season has been the number of aerial duels won per game (4.36 compared to 6.6 in 18/19) although the return to fashion for the big man up front, such as Erling Haaland, Ivan Toney and Aleksandr Mitrovic, might have a role in this.

Data is not everyone’s cup of tea. Indeed, I’m not sure it’s mine. But, if his personal figures are not a lot different to a time before the injury of October 2020, when he oozed such class, unruffled and supreme, then something else must be at play because he no longer does.

Klopp still wants to play high up the pitch, he wants intensity and tries to win the ball back quickly although no longer has peak Roberto Firmino leading the ball recoveries or Sadio Mane troubling defenders with his threat to run in behind.

The midfield chemistry is not as when Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Georginio Wijnaldum were fully synchronised.

Van Dijk’s can still be great for many more years and he is not the source of Liverpool’s issues

Liverpool have lacked the same intensity and Van Dijk and Co have found themselves stretched leaving them more exposed on a regular basis – allowing for mistakes

Back then, Van Dijk’s job was easier. Even though expected to defend vast swathes of the pitch, he knew his craft and did it with such panache that he developed an aura.

It is the sweet spot for a footballer, when mere presence spreads confidence through one team and dread through the other.

But Liverpool have ceased to generate quite the same intensity. Most probably through changes in personnel, the sands of time, small changes rippling through the team to erode things they came to rely upon.

At the back, Van Dijk and Co find themselves stretched. More exposed more regularly. Under more pressure. Mistakes creep in and everything boils down to minimising mistakes in central defence.

Just ask Harry Maguire or Davinson Sanchez. They are at the stage where each mistake commands a headline regardless of whether it is entirely their fault or others are partly culpable.

If Van Dijk makes one against Leeds, it will fuel the theory his powers are fading but I won’t be subscribing. He has been one of the greats of his era and can be for many more years. The source of Liverpool’s problem is elsewhere.

Remarkable renaissance story 

Ten years after their lowest ebb, finishing seventh in the Conference and 99th in the country, and Luton sit third in the Championship, requiring just a point from the last four games to clinch a play-off spot.

They are in flying form, unbeaten in 10 with seven clean sheets and six goals during that spell for top scorer Carlton Morris, who has 18 across the season and trades almost exclusively in the blue-chip market of opening goals and match-winners.

It is a remarkable renaissance story of many threads not least that of manager Rob Edwards, swiftly sacked by rivals Watford and installed at Luton to extend progress made under Nathan Jones, who led them to the play-offs last season.

Most impressive of all, however, is to transform a bottom-three budget into a top-three finish. That takes some doing at any level and can only be achieved with a commitment to the inclusive culture you find within the ramshackle confines of Kenilworth Road.

Luton Town just need one more point to secure a Championship play-off position 

Cavalier pursuit of win doesn’t pay off 

Those Tottenham supporters demanding more thrills than available under Antonio Conte might have enjoyed seeing their team charge in cavalier pursuit of victory on Saturday, set up in a vague 4-2-4 shape with non-defending full-back Pedro Porro on the right of the back four and the club’s record scorer Harry Kane in midfield with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. Shame about Bournemouth’s 95th-minute winner though.

Tottenham went all out to secure a win at Bournemouth only to fall to a 3-2 defeat

Ex-United coaches impress 

Five goals on Friday for Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough and six on Saturday for Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich Town. What a weekend for two young coaches flourishing since leaving Manchester United for their first managerial roles.

Gift doesn’t disappoint 

Young Nigerian striker Gift Orban did not disappoint those keen to catch a glimpse of him playing for Gent against West Ham in the UEFA Conference League. 

Orban, 20, shot to prominence in a blaze of goals since leaving Stabaek in Norway for Belgium in January. Now there are bigger clubs in hot pursuit. 

It doesn’t always go to plan but it is a reminder of what can happen when football talent out of Africa meets Scandinavian sports science and opportunity.

Clubs across Europe are scouting Gift Orban after his impressive displays for Gent

50 year anniversary 

Last Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of Walton and Hersham beating Slough Town in the penultimate FA Amateur Cup final, before a crowd of 42,000 at Wembley. 

Their captain was Dave Bassett, one of several players who followed manager Allen Batsford from Surrey to Wimbledon, where success in the Southern League and the FA Cup led to election to the Football League, and the rest, as they say, is history. Bassett marked the anniversary with a trip to watch Watford, another of his old clubs, beat Bristol City.

Eight games in NINE days 

 Combined Counties Division One where Sandhurst Town, having won 3-0 on Saturday, begin a run of eight games in nine days, starting with Deportivo Galicia at home on Monday.

It is a backlog rooted in a groundshare with Bracknell, success in the cups and the league’s determination to end the season on time. If they win six of the eight, Sandhurst will go up. If they don’t, they will probably have to pick themselves up for the play-offs.